REPORT 

PRESENTED TO THE 

Secretary of State for Foreign 
Relations 

BY /' 

EDUARDO BEECHE 

Ex-CoNSUL General of Costa Rica in Nicaragua 

PRECEDED BY 

SOME NOTES REGARDING THE PRESENT STATUS OF 
„ THE RELATIONS OF THE TWO COUNTRIES 



^'< 



OF CGFi 



1898 



PUBLISHED BY THE LEGATION OF COSTA RICA 
IN WASHINGTON 






1 S *"> o 

4 I oo 






It has been stated in some of the organs of the press of the 
United States that the present difi&culties between Costa Rica 
and Nicaragua originated in the old boundary question ; this 
is incorrect, at least so far as Costa Rica is concerned. 

The essential point of the boundary controversy — the validity 
of the boundary treaty — was settled by the award of President 
Cleveland, of March 22, 1888, sustaining the contention of 
Costa Rica. The delays which have subsequently prevented 
the material demarkation of the divisional line are not attribu- 
table to Costa Rica which had exerted every effort to bring about 
that desired end ; and when the surveying work was once 
begun, she accepted without question the decisions of the 
engineer arbitrator named by the President of the United 
States, pursuant to the Convention signed to that end in Kl 
Salvador, through the fraternal mediation of the Government 
of that State, on March 27, 1896. 

The true causes of the present difficulties are made apparent 
in the correspondence published by the Government of Costa 
Rica on September 14 and December 19, 1897. From these 
documents it appears that troops of the Government of Nica- 
ragua invaded Costa Rican territory, passing four miles within 
the boundary line ; it appears that persons very intimately 
connected with the Government of Nicaragua took great pains 
to arouse public feeling against Costa Rica, under the ground- 
less pretext that a decree permitting the free importation of 
certain commodities, violated its rights ; it appears that with 
the same end in view it was asserted in Nicaragua that the 
Costa Rican Boundary Commission pretended to re-incorporate 
into Costa Rica the Nicaraguan port of San Juan del Norte ; 
it appears that the Government of General Zelaya affected to 
give credit, in order to formulate a charge of disloyalty against 
the chief magistrate of Costa Rica, to an apocryphal letter the 
origin of which was not unknown to the Nicaraguan Ruler ; 
and it appears, finally, that Don Eduardo Beeche, Consul 
General of Costa Rica in Nicaragua, was not permitted to 



^!- ^5jQQ 



officially explain the spirit of the decree mentioned, nor dis- 
prove the gross calumny cast upon President Yglesias ; and 
that eventually Seiior Beeche, the Consul General, vi^as thrown 
into prison before his exequatur was cancelled, and under the 
pretext, still unjustified, that he was involved in a revolutionary 
movement. 

The Government of Nicaragua still not content with these 
provocations aimed at that of Costa Rica, threatens the latter 
from the frontier, placing forces there which appear to be ready 
to invade the country. 

This pamphlet contains the report presented to the Secretary 
of State for Foreign Relations of Costa Rica by the said Seiior 
Beeche. In this document that citizen completely exonerates 
himself of the charge which the Government of General Zelaya 
lodged against him, and rehearses the outrages of which he was 
the victim in Nicaragua. 

The Government of Costa Rica, in the meanwhile, has dis- 
played the greatest prudence and moderation, in order to avoid 
a conflict, which course it believes best becomes sister peoples ; 
but at the same time that it exhausts all the expedients of 
civilization in behalf of peace, it has requested the Diet of the 
Greater Republic that, inspired with the high sentiments of 
justice, it make proper reparation for the outrage inflicted on 
Costa Rica in the person of Seiior Beeche, and equitably in- 
demnify the latter for the injuries occasioned him. 

The Diet in reply evades all answer to the claims of Costa 
Rica, and limits itself to contending that Governments have 
the right to cancel the credentials of a Consul who is per- 
sofia non grata— 2^ question which the Costa Rica Govern- 
ment has not and could not bring into the discussion. Neither 
does the Diet adduce any proof to justify the imprisonment of 
the Consul, Seiior Beeche ; but beyond that evasion and this 
silence, what claims particular attention is the circumstance 
that the Diet in its reply, written two days after the rendition 
of a sentence in which a court martial condemned Seiior Beeche, 
it did not specify any of the evidence upon which the court based 
its findings, and failed to make any reference to the sentence. 
This circumstance leads to the belief that the Diet did not find 



3 

in the proceedings any evidence as to the guilt of Senor Beeche, 
and hence its failure to adduce the same, and its reason for car- 
rying the question to a plane distinct from that upon which it 
should be discussed. 

The Government of Costa Rica was preparing to insist upon 
the matter of the demands it had laid before the Diet, when it 
learned that the Nicaraguan revolutionists had risen in arms 
against the Government of the neighboring country ; for which 
reason it became necessary to suspend the prosecution of the 
steps taken to that end. Very soon it was learned that Nica- 
raguan troops were advancing towards Costa Rica, probably in 
pursuit of the routed revolutionists who were endeavoring to 
gain the frontier, and then the Costa Rican Government resolved 
to place a small force there with a view to preventing any new 
violation of its territory. 

In this condition of things a telegram was received in San 
Jose in which the Diet makes bold to assert that the Govern- 
ment of Costa Rica had taken part in the revolutionary move- 
ment which broke out a short time before in San Juan del Sur, 
advancing as a proof of this charge the refusal of the Govern- 
ment to concentrate the Nicaraguan political exiles who had 
established their residence in the Province of Guanacaste. 

The Government of Costa Rica considers that it was not its 
duty to watch or impede the movements of the Nicaraguans 
who had sought asylum in Guanacaste, so long as their move- 
ments did not violate the laws of the Republic ; and as regards 
concentrating the political exiles, as that measure was requested 
by the Government of Nicaragua at the very time that the 
Consul, Senor Beeche, was the object in Nicaragua of num- 
berless outrages, and when the just demands of the Costa Rican 
Government were given 'deaf ears, this latter Government con- 
siders that national dignity prevented it from acceding to the 
request, considering the circumstances under which it was made 
by the Diet. 

As is gleaned from the telegram referred to, the Diet asked 
the States signing the compact of Araapala to resolve among 
themselves the questions pending between Costa Rica and the 
Government of Nicaragua, and it is to be hoped that good 



4 

judgment will prevail in the minds of the Governments of El 
Salvador and Honduras, and that before they will allow them- 
selves to be drawn into the most unjust of aggressions, they 
will disapprove the attitude of the Nicaraguan Ruler and em- 
phatically repudiate his rash purposes. 

The Government of Costa Rica has done on its part all that 
dignity and prudence counsel, (having all the right on its 
side), to bring the Government of General Zelaya, through the 
medium of the Diet which is his organ, to the friendly recog- 
nition of the justice of its complaints and the validity of its 
demands. Its efforts in this behalf have been unfortunately 
sterile. 

Nevertheless, the Government of Costa Rica has declared 
through the Diario OJicial that its policy in the premises is 
limited solely and exclusively to providing for the defense of 
the fatherland in anticipation of any act that may be violative 
of the national sovereignty. This is its duty and it will know 
how to perform it. 



San Josi;, February 12, 1898. 
Mr. Minister : 

I have the honor to lay before you a detailed statement of 
the events which have lately transpired in Nicaragua, the out- 
come of which was the imprisonment to which I was unduly 
subjected by the Government of that State. 

On May 6, 1896, I was honored with the appointment of 
Consul General of Costa Rica in Nicaragua, whither I went, 
together with my family, early in the month of June, the 
customary exequatur having been issued to me on the 27th of 
the same month and year. 

From the very start, I devoted all my energies to the promo- 
tion of the good relations which exist between the two countries, 
and which at the time existed between their respective Govern- 
ments ; and I made it known, both in my writings and in private 
conversations, that that was the sole and special mission 
entrusted to me by the Government of Senor Iglesias. 

In the interest of truth I ought to state that General Zelaya 
received me with especial regard, and that for some time I was 
the object of expressive manifestations of sympathy and esteem 
on the part of the head of the cabinet and of all the ofl&cials of 
that Government. 

As you may have seen in the newspapers of Nicaragua, I 
was publishing, so long as the press accepted my articles, infor- 
mation regarding Costa Rica, endeavoring to make our country 
known ; but as the only publications now existing in Nicaragua 
are semi-of&cial, when that Government began to antagonize 
me, the press declined to receive my contributions, and the 
only newspaper — El Correo de Granada — which made bold to 
insert my defense of Sefior Iglesias and Costa Rica, was imme- 
diately suspended, and one of its publishers, Don Adan Vivas, 
was imprisoned. 

As I have before stated, during the first months and up to 
January of last year, when the Legation entrusted to Dr. 
Jacinto Castellanos by the Greater Republic of Central America 



came to Costa Rica, everything was on a good footing. Presi- 
dent Zelaya and his ministers were ceaseless in their expres- 
sions of friendship towards Sefior Iglesias and his Government, 
as well as towards the people of Costa Rica ; and I must say 
with satisfaction that during this time I was not looked upon 
as a consul, but I was treated with all the consideration and 
deferences allotted to diplomatic ministers. 

Desirous of making return for the many attentions received, 
and with the consent of this Government, I gave a banquet to 
General Zelaya and his Cabinet on October 23, 1896. At this 
feast, as at many others, there were exchanged between Presi- 
dent Zelaya and the writer hereof expressions of cordiality 
which seemed to be sincere on the part of that magistrate, 
through which he signified his efforts to preserve good relations 
with the Government of Costa Rica. 

Don Manuel Coronel Matus, who up to that time had shown 
himself favorable to this policy of conciliation and harmony, 
was named Secretary of the Legation presided over by Dr. 
Castellaiios, and he was entrusted by President Zelaya upon 
that occasion with a special mission before President Iglesias. 

The Chief Magistrate of Nicaragua was particularly anxious 
to obtain the signature of President Iglesias to a treaty whereby 
Costa Rica ceded to Nicaragua the waters of the Colorado 
River, the deviation of which was urged in order that they 
should swell the waters of the San Juan River, thereby render- 
ing easier the steam navigation of the latter. 

Information which I received there, and which I deemed 
trustworthy, acquainted me with the fact that the desire of 
President Zelaya was not crowned with the success which he 
had anticipated. 

This was undoubtedly the cause, since no other exists, which 
led Senor Coronel Matus, on making a report upon the results 
of his mission, to express views which brought upon this country 
and its Government the animadversion and ill-will of General 
Zelaya, who from that moment ceased to give evidences of 
sympathy. 

On February 7, 1897, that Government discovered a revolu- 
tionary plan, and some of General Zelaya's friends led him to 



believe that the Government of Costa Rica had aided the con- 
servatives of Grenada in that plan. Predisposed, as he was, 
against us, Senor Zelaya was so quick to believe everything 
told him in this regard, that on a certain occasion he addressed 
me as follows : 

" I wish you to understand, Senor Beeche, that if from the 
investigations to be made it appears as a fact that your Govern- 
ment has interfered in the domestic affairs of Nicaragua, I will 
go to San Jose, for he who could triumphantly enter Teguci- 
galpa, can with greater ease enter the capital of Costa Rica ; " 
words which I reported, at the proper time, as was my duty, to 
the Department of State. 

It was generally believed in that country that the award of the 
Engineer Alexander in the boundary matter, treating of the 
Punta de Castilla question, would be unfavorable to Nicaragua; 
and it was the public opinion that the Government of that 
State was making preparations with the idea of declaring war 
on Costa Rica, if the award were against it. 

At the proper time, I also reported this to the Department, 
and also, in a private letter, to the President of the Republic. 

At the beginning of the month of July there appeared in the 
newspaper, HI Comercio, of Managua, a forged letter of Senor 
Don Rafael Iglesias to General Domingo Vasquez I immedi- 
ately transmitted the apocryphal letter by telegraph to Senor 
Iglesias, at the same time asking him what there was in it. 

So soon as I had received the reply denying the authenticity 
of that document, I presented myself before the Minister of 
Interior Relations, requesting the publication in the Diario 
Oficial of the telegram of Senor Iglesias, in which he stated 
the spuriousness of the said letter, and requesting, at the same 
time, that the Minister investigate, without judicial interven- 
tion, what person had taken the forged document to the ofiice 
of El Comercio, thus assuming responsibility for its publica- 
tion. 

Minister Calderon, after having conferred with President 
Zelaya, stated to me that the latter absolutely refused to do all 
I had asked, as he did not consider the satisfaction which I 
requested for President Iglesias as an official matter ; and with 



8 

respect to the investigation I desired, he left the courts — the 
only channel which could furnish me with the name of the 
party who had given the forged copy to El Comercio, a semi- 
ofiicial newspaper subsidized by the public treasurj-, — open 
to me. 

In view of the hostile attitude of that Government, which 
had always shown itself so friendly to ours, I determined to 
make several publications in loose sheets to vindicate Senor 
Iglesias, which I believe I succeeded in doing ; the respectable 
public becoming convinced some days later of the villainy 
which had characterized the action in the premises. 

From trustworthy sources I learned later that it was Presi- 
dent Zelaya in person who had delivered to the editor of the 
semi-official newspaper the apocryphal letter, and who had 
inspired the comments published with it. From the moment I 
learned this, I fully understood why I had been refused the 
means of clearing up this unfortunate matter, and the effect 
that the false document, invented and published without 
doubt for the purpose of arousing feeling against Costa Rica 
in Nicaragua as well as Honduras, might have. 

The good results attendant upon my efforts to give the lie to 
the said letter gained for me the deepest enmity of President 
Zelaya and some of his intimate friends, the foremost among 
which was Don Jose Dolores Gamez, the irreconcilable enemy 
of Costa Rica. 

I should here record with satisfaction that while these events 
put me in bad odor with the Government of that State, on the 
other hand the Nicaraguan society, which from the moment of 
my arrival had loaded me with distentions, showed no change, 
and in Managua the same as in the other cities, my family and 
I were received with evidences of affection and marked courtesy. 

If the explanations anent the apocryphal letter occasioned 
ine serious difficulties, no less grave were those which arose 
immediately afterwards by reason of the decree issued by the 
Congress of this country on June r2th of the previous year — 
a decree which permits the introduction of some articles free of 
duty into the territory of Costa Rica by way of the San Juan 
River ; for efforts were made to arouse public feeling against 



us, and in fact, the liberal convention, headed and directed by 
Seiior Gamez, and aided by the Government o/ Nicaragua, 
organized public meetings to determine whether or not it were 
advisable to immediately declare war on Costa Rica. 

On this occasion also I had to confront the Government and 
defend my country through sundry publications ; and I further 
believe that I proved by them the perfect right of our Congress 
to issue the decree of June 12th. 

When the paper, Kl Comercio, edited by Sefior Gamez, no 
longer could adduce reasons to combat my arguments, it 
descended to the plane of insults, and the columns of that 
paper were daily filled with personal abuse of me. Naturall}', 
I ought not — nor would it have been becoming in me — to follow 
it on that level, and I opine that abstention from replying to 
those vituperations was the best mark of contempt for its 
unqualifiable conduct. 

Nevertheless, success attended the efforts to excite, ever 
under the pretext of the said decree, feeling against the Costa 
Ricans, to the extent that one night, crowds urged on and 
made drunk by agents of the Government, began to march 
through the streets of Managua shouting ' ' Death to the people 
and Government of Costa Rica ! '' 

My words can not convey to you the profound indignation 
produced in me by such cries, uttered within the hearing of 
the police authorities, who remained indifferent and took no 
measures whatever to repress such manifestations, alike odious 
and unjustified. 

Because of this I immediately went to the house of the Min- 
ister of Interior Relations and informed him of what was taking 
place, lodging a formal protest in the name of the Government 
of Costa Rica for the complacency with which the authorities 
looked upon that disturbance, and expressing my surprise at 
such a proceeding while friendly relations existed between the 
two people and Goverments. 

I likewise expressed to the Minister my purpose to cause, to 
the full extent of my ability, the name of Costa Rica to be 
respected while I remained in that State as Consul General of 
this country. 



10 

Minister Calderon expressed his displeasure at the occurrence 
and found my protest very proper; and he gave orders to the 
Chief of Police of Managua to suppress the abuses which were 
being committed. 

The energetic and timely action of the Chief of Police was 
productive of the best results, for during the remainder of the 
night the offensive and disrespectful shouts which gave rise to 
my protest were not repeated. 

There is no room for doubt that all these incidents, and many 
of less importance which I abstain from enumerating, were 
placing me in a very difficult position to discharge the functions 
of the consulate ; for the Government of Nicaragua in its desire 
to antagonize me, eventually went so far as to prohibit the 
sending of my cipher dispatches over the national telegraph 
lines, and the Director General of these (by positive orders 
received from President Zelaya) refused to deliver to me a 
cablegram from the consulate general of Costa Rica in Bl Sal- 
vador. 

This high-handed action, as well as all the other matters, I 
reported to the Department of State at the time. 

Since January of last year the eldest of my little girls had 
been suffering with a very severe stomach trouble. Several 
prominent physicians of Nicaragua, who had attended her — 
latterly the distinguished German doctor, Ernesto Rothschuh — 
were of the opinion that in order to secure an improvement in 
her condition it was necessary to seek a cooler climate than that 
of Managua. Following, therefore, the suggestion, about the 
middle of August I transferred my family to Masaya. 

The occupations incident to the office I held in Managua, 
coupled with the business of Dr. Victorino Argiiello, who on 
leaving for Kurope had given me a general power of attorney 
to represent him, prevented me from accompanying my family 
during their stay in Masaya ; but having learned on September 
1 6th, at 2 p. M , that a revolution would break out on the fol- 
lowing day, and fearing to leave my family alone in the hotel 
at Masaya at a time when a civil war was ripe, the duration 
and results of which I could not foresee, I determined to leave 
that very day for Masaya, where I joined my family. 



II 

As the party from whom 1 had received the news in the 
capital was unable to give me any details touching the revolu- 
tion on foot, and as it was natural to suppose that the attack 
would be directed against Managua, where Senor Zelaya was, 
I did not wish to take my wife and children to the capital in 
order that they might not be on the scene of the disturbances ; 
and I determined, my wife agreeing, to go with them on the 
morning of September 17th to the city of Granada, where the 
Government has only a very small force, for which reason it 
was natural to suppose that the revolutionists would have no 
interest in attacking the place. It is thus apparent how jfar I 
was from knowing the smallest detail of a revolutionary plan 
of which I had barely a vague notice on the eve of the day it 
broke out. 

On the very 17th two more of my children fell ill, and this 
circumstance prevented me from returning to the capital, as I 
had desired. At night, and contrary to my surmise, the revo- 
lutionists made an attack on the Granada barracks, and on the 
following day, although I wished to return to Managua, it was 
no longer possible, for the revolution had delayed the regular 
running of the trains, and, besides, my children continued ill.. 
During the whole of the i8th Granada suffered violent disturb-: 
ances; many honorable persons of the conservative party were 
taken to jail where they were put in chains, and there were 
not wanting those who came to tell me that the authorities had 
orders to apprehend me, which I did not credit in the least 
since there was no ground for such action against me, and 
because my position as Consul and my distance from the 
domestic political questions of Nicaragua, engaged as I was 
always in furthering the friendly ties of both countries, led me 
to believe with well-founded reason that I was beyond any 
suspicion whatsoever. I omit rehearsing, as it does not meet 
my purpose, the horrible scenes the city of Granada witnessed 
on that memorable day ; I will only state to you that those 
scenes were a shameful blot on Central American culture and a 
reproach to mankind.- 

On Sunday, the 19th of the said month of September, in the 
morning, I sent a request for an interview to the Governor of 



12 

Granada, General Juan J. Bodan, making use for the purpose 
of Don Toribio Lacayo, who acted as intermediary. 

My object was to request the principal authority of Granada 
to ask the Minister of Promotion for an express train in which 
to return to Managua on the following day, for the business of 
the consulate as well as of Dr. Argiiello demanded my presence 
in that city. Seiior Lacayo, entrusted with the request for the 
interview, informed me that the Governor could not receive me 
that day as he had a multiplicity of very urgent matters to 
despatch. 

In view of this difficulty, I determined to wait until things 
should calm down a little, because at that time I could not 
communicate with the capital by either telegraph or telephone, 
both lines being devoted exclusively to the Government service. 
Furthermore, on the 19th, news reached me that orders had 
been given for my detention ; and there was no lack of persons 
who advised me to hide, reasoning that the ill-will entertained 
for me by the Government of that State might prove fatal to 
me, and that General Zelaya might improve the occasion to 
bring the whole weight of his wrath down upon me as the 
Representative of this Government, thus to punish the energetic 
stand I had maintained on the several occasions when it was 
sought to attack my country. 

Naturally, I rejected the idea of concealing myself, and that 
day — the 19th — I spent in attendance on my children, who 
still continued ill, up to seven o'clock in the evening, when I 
went to the house of Dr. Alberto lyacayo for the purpose of 
begging him to come and see my sick children. 

Five minutes had barely elapsed from my entrance into the 
Doctor's house when a squad appeared before the street door 
requesting permission to enter for the purpose, as they stated, 
of pursuing a boy who had come in a short time before. The 
owner of the house, my aunt, Dona Josefa Argiiello de I^acayo, 
informed the commander of the squad that no boy had come in, 
and that the only person who had arrived a moment before, 
and who was inside, was I. The commander of the squad 
then asked to see Dr. L^acayo, who was immediately called. 
The officer informed this gentleman that he came for the pur- 



13 

pose of arresting me, and he asked to be conducted to the room 
where I had remained, and almost immediately I saw Dr. 
Lacayo enter the room where I was conversing with two ladies, 
accompanied by Don Jose Dolores Cuadra, Chief of Police of 
Granada, and ten or twelve policemen armed with rifles. 

Senor Cuadra asked me my name, which I immediately gave 
him. He then informed me that he had superior orders to 
arrest and conduct me to the jail. I protested against such an 
outrage, mentioning to the Chief of Police that he was laboring 
under a misapprehension, for it was impossible to conceive 
that he had been given orders to arrest me, I being, as I then 
was. Consul General of Costa Rica in Nicaragua. 

I asked him if he had any written order, issued by a judge, 
for some offense I was charged with having committed, and the 
Chief of Police replied that he was not the bearer of any written 
order ; but that he had superior instructions to take me to the 
jail, even by force, in case I objected to following him, and that 
he thought there was no mistake, as he had been told that it 
was the Consul of Costa Rica he must arrest^ and that if I had 
any complaint to make, I could make it some other time, for I 
must follow him immediately. 

In view of this attitude, and fearing, from what I had seen 
in other cases, some material outrage to my person if I made 
any resistance to brute force, I determined to follow the com- 
mander of the squad, who took me to the public jail, which is 
there called El Cabildo (town hall). I immediately asked to 
see the commandant, Senor Juan J. Bodan ; but I was told that 
he was engaged and it was impossible to speak to him. 

The Chief of Police delivered me over to the officer of the 
guard at the jail, who made a scrupulous search of my person, 
taking from my pockets everything they contained, including 
some important papers belonging to the consulate— papers I 
had received on my departure from Managua, and which, the 
same as the other articles taken from me, have never been 
returned. 

The ofl&cer of the guard took me into the building and 
showed me a small space at the end of a bench where many 
other prisoners were seated ; he put two sentinels over me and 



14 

gave them peremptory orders not to allow me to speak with 
any one nor to move from that place, authorizing them to open 
fire on me in case I disobeyed orders. About 9 o'clock at night 

1 begged them to give me a glass of water. Permission was 
sought to provide it ; but the ofl&cer of the guard replied that 
there were strict orders to give me nothing. 

On the following day, September 20th, permission was 
granted for food to be sent in to me, and I was allowed to 
take water. But as it was necessary to torment me in some 
way, I was placed in a corridor where the sun entered from 

2 o'clock in the afternoon, and despite the repeated solicitations 
of some friends who saw my sufferings to have me taken from 
that place of torment, the answer was always that the orders 
received regarding my person were very strict and that it was 
obligatory to obey them. Happily, after some hours of suffer- 
ing from the pitiless intensity of the burning sun-rays, there 
appeared at the jail an individual whom I scarcely knew, but 
who became indignant on seeing the cruelt)^ perpetrated on 
me, and he immediately ordered the guards to transfer me to 
another part of the corridor where I was in the shade. 

I remained in the same corridor in which I was put on entering 
the jail until the 22nd. On that da5% at nine in the morning, 
I was taken before a man named Manuel R. Castillo, whom I 
was told was the Judge Advocate, charged with conducting the 
proceedings in the matter of the revolution. 

This Judge Advocate, after asking me my name, age and 
profession, interrogated me as to whether I was acquainted with 
the cause for my detention. I replied that I presumed the cause 
was a libelous statement made by the semi-ofl5cial paper called 
El Comercio, which alleged that I was a revolutionary agent of 
the Government of Costa Rica in Nicaragua. I was also called 
upon to state everything that I had done and the names of 
persons I had conversed with since the i6th in the morning. 
I answered everything, not deviating a hair's breadth from the 
truth. I endeavored to make some other explanations respect- 
ing my actions, which the said paper, El Comercio, considered 
suspicious, and also desired to cite the names of some honorable 
parties who would have served as witnesses to my statements ; 



15 

but the Judge Advocate prevented me in a peremptory manner, 
refusing to make record of anything other than the answers I 
had made to his questions up to that time, and ordering the 
clerk to immediately close the deposition, which I signed as 
soon as it was read to me. 

From that moment I was placed in a cell, in solitary confine- 
ment, and the watchfulness was redoubled, for in place of two 
guards who had me in charge up to that time, six soldiers, rifle 
in hand, were stationed in front of the door of my lock-up. 

In the afternoon of the same day — the 22nd — the oflBcial who 
had liberated me from the sun by sending me to another place, 
appeared and informed me that he had orders to hand-cuflfme. 
At the same time he said that it was impossible to obey the 
order that night because the only pair of hand-cufis not in use 
lacked some iron bolts which would not be ready until the 
next day. 

I succeeded in obtaining ink and paper and I wrote a letter 
to President Zela5'a, formulating a protest against my imprison- 
ment, vexations and the irregular manner in which I was being 
dealt with. I also made some explanations with respect to the 
baseless charges laid against me in El Comercio, and I ended 
by asking President Zelaya to allow me a hearing and have 
justice done me. 

To this letter, which was delivered into Seiior Zelaya' s own 
hands, no repl}^ was ever made ; and on one occasion when my 
esteemed friend, Don Antonio Bayan, asked him if he had 
received my letter, the President answered with the greatest 
scorn that he had in fact received a letter from me, but that it 
was very long, and hence he had not read it. 

On September 24th, at seven in the morning, I was taken 
from my cell and, accompanied by thirty-two prisoners, I was 
transferred to the city of Managua. 

In both cities we were made to march through the streets on 
foot. 

On reaching the capital my companions were taken to the 
penitentiary, I alone remaining in the artillery barracks, where 
I was taken and turned over by an aid to the President of that 
State. 



i6 

I judge that the private orders of which the aid who brought 
me was the bearer must have been very strict, for on reaching 
the barracks I had to wait a time while the two small windows 
of a narrow cell where I was to be confined were nailed up. 
That cell got very little air and light through a narrow door 
facing a corridor where, at a distance of scarcely five meters 
and pointing towards my door, was a Krupp gun, 73^ calibre, 
guarded day and night by two artillerymen, who kept it trained 
on me. Notwithstanding this, two guards were posted at the 
sides of the door of my cell, with orders to not allow commu- 
nication with any one. 

My health had been quite broken down by reason of the 
discomforts and ill-treatment to which I had been subjected, 
so that from that day I was prostrated in bed until the 13th of 
October. 

During these seventeen days, in which I was attacked by a 
serious congestion of the liver, I was attended by the excellent 
physician Don Ernesto Rothschuh, who came two or three 
times a day to see me. 

The bad conditions of the cell, the want of air and light, and 
above all the irregularity in taking the little food that sustained 
me; the lack of water, many times, and the impossibility of 
providing myself at the proper time with the medicines pre- 
scribed for me, made my cure very difficult, and the moment 
arrived in which Dr. Rothschuh became solicitous as to the 
outcome of my disease. 

The commandant of the barracks who on one* occasion found 
me very ill, went to President Zelaya and begged him to grant 
my release so that I might be taken to my house. 

The President replied that he would send some physicians to 
report upon the state of my health. 

So, on the following day, and while Dr. Rothschuh was with 
me, Drs. Maldonado, Espinosa and Ortega appeared, two of 
whom, after an exhaustive examination gave a favorable, and 
the last named an adverse, report. 

It ought to be at once understood that the report of Dr. 
Rothschuh, advising with greater insistence than the others 
my immediate release, also reached the President's hands. 



I? 

Naturally, General Zelaya only paid attention to: the adverse 
report of Dr. Ortega, because this harmonized with his ill-will 
towards me. 

, Since my depositions were not taken, and it seemed that they 
no longer remembered that I was suflfering in a cell, I deter- 
mined, on October i8th in the morning, to send for Don Antonio 
M. Bayan, Consul of the Argentine Republic arid Manager of 
the lyondon Bank in Nicaragua. 

Seiior Bayan succeeded in .seeing me during the afternoon of 
the 1 8th, and he found me so ill that he promised to exert all 
his influence with General Zelaya to the end of accomplishing 
my release from so grievous a position. 

The efforts of my excellent friend, Senor Bayan, met with 
the greatest success, for on the following day — October 19th — 
at 10 A. M. he arrived accompanied by an aid of the President 
to take me to the Palace where a minute of release for ten days 
was signed. 

Besides, it was an expressed condition imposed by General 
Zelaya on my surety, Seiior Bayan, that I should remain under 
lock in a room in the building of the L,ondon Bank, without 
seeing any one but my wife and children, Senor Bayan binding 
himself to prevent my writing to any person whatsoever. 

My surety agreed to everything, realizing the urgent neces- 
sity that existed for me to leave the barracks ; and I in fact left 
to install myself in the Bank building, I had hardly reached 
my new prison when I fell into bed and kept it for eight days. 

The eve of the expiration of the term of ten days — the date 
when I must needs return to the cell — some persons interested 
themselves with two of the members of the Diet — Dr. Castel- 
lanos and Sr. Soriano — that they, in turn, might secure from 
President Zelaya permission for me to be left in the Bank build- 
ing. The efforts of these gentlemen were successful, and Senor 
Zelaya a.ssured them that while no other complication with 
Costa Rica or the political exiles arose, he offered not to return 
me to prison ; but that he would not be responsible for what 
would happen to me upon an invasion or declaration of war 
by the Government of Costa Rica. 

Thus passed fifty days during which I recovered my health 



i8 

completely ; but the time arrived when it became necessary for 
the Government to decide what to do with me, as Seiior A. M. 
Bay an, Manager of the I^ondon Bank, in whose house I was 
located, must make a trip to El Salvador, Because of this my 
surety went to see President Zelaya, and begged him to let me 
leave the country with my family. 

Seiior Zelaya replied to this as follows : " Consul Beeche will 
not get out of my hands until President Iglesias concentrates 
all the political exiles and gives me absolute guarantees of 
peace." Nevertheless, Sefior Bayan succeeded in arranging 
that from that day— December 8, 1897 — I could return to my 
house, remaining with the city as my prison. The emphatic 
declaration made by Zelaya, showing his purpose to retain me 
as a hostage, was an imminent and terrible threat which afforded 
me not one instant of tranquillity. On the other hand, the 
words of the President made it apparent that I was not being 
tried according to the laws of the country, and that everything 
that had befallen me was the work of perversity and pas.sion. 

All this caused me to reflect very seriously regarding the 
risk I ran being held as a hostage in the power of an arbitrary 
ruler, who, having felt not the slightest compunction in jailing 
and harassing the consul of a friendly nation, much less would 
he hesitate to inflict upon me, despoiled as I was of that 
office, all manner of cruelties just as soon as the invasion of 
the political exiles is announced, or in case Costa Rica should 
declare war on him to put an end to his unjustifiable aggres- 
sions against us 

I stayed, then, fifteen days at the capital with the city as a 
prison, and considering that I was not summoned to appear 
before any court whatever, and no defense was allowed, neither 
was I interrogated with regard to the acts attributed to me ; 
and realizing from the words of President Zelaya himself that 
I was only held as a hostage, I determined on the night of 
December 22, to take the road to Costa Ricta, to present myself 
before the Government and report upon the occurrences, which 
I now have the honor to do. 

From the 22nd of last December up to the 3rd day of January, 
the date on which I succeeded in gaining the frontier, I exper- 



19 

ienced innumerable troubles and privations, which it is not 
pertinent to relate. 

At Pueblo Nuevo, near Rivas, and at Sapoa, I was on the 
point of falling into the hands of the forces of the Government 
of General Zelaya, who, according to information, had orders 
little humane respecting my person. 

Happily I was able to escape, and on the 8th ultimo I reached 
this capital. 

Once in this city I have had occasion to inform myself of the 
communications exchanged between the Government of this 
country and the Diet of the Greater Republic of Central 
America ; and with true pleasure I have seen that a formal 
protest has been filed for the unqualifiable outrage committed on 
the person of the Consul General of Costa Rica, and that a 
demand has been made on the Government of Nicaragua for 
reparation to the country, and an indemnity for me, which 
accords with justice, 

I entertain the hope that the steps taken will be pushed, and 
that very soon the results will be in every way successful. 

I have also seen by the editorial in I^a Gaceta Oficial, of 
December 19th of last year, that the Government of Costa Rica 
has given its full approval to my action, which is very satis- 
factory to me. 

I ought to mention in this report the excellent behavior of 
my colleagues, the members of the consular corps in Managua, 
who so soon as they learned that I had been in prison, appeared 
before the Diet, asking that I be treated better and offering me 
the house of any one of them that I might be transferred there, 
thus avoiding the vexation of remaining in a jail. 

As you may see by the enclosed copy, the Diet, on laying 
that request before the Government of Nicaragua, adhered to 
the statements of the consuls, and also espoused the petition. 

Unfortunately, so friendly and opportune an intervention did 
not bear the hoped-for results, for President Zelaya refused 
everything, and, notwithstanding having solemnly promised 
that orders would be issued that I be treated with the consider- 
ation to which I was entitled by reason of my social position, 
on that very day the precautions taken to keep a watch over 



20 

me were redoubled, and orders were given to put a pair of hand- 
cuffs on me. 

These are the facts which led to my imprisonment, and which 
I had the honor to verbally report to you upon my arrival. 

I guarantee their truthfulness and am ready to prove them. 

Mr. Minister, be pleased to accept the renewed assurances of 
consideration with which I sign myself, 

Your humble servant, 

(Signed) EDUARDO B]§:ECHK. 

To Don Ricardo Pacheco, 

Minister of Foreign Relations. 



